where to go with my calves

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3-B Farms

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I am new to the board, I have been reading the posts and decided to register because I have heard some really good advice. I know there is not supposed to be any advertising on the board so some of you may want to e-mail me privately. My question is, where can I sell my calves without taking them to the salebarn and paying outrageous commissions. I have been raising calves for a few years now and have done really well with it, in the summer I will rais as many bottle calves as my budget will allow and I raise grass calves all year long. I am raising/purchasing them out of pocket so as not to borrow any money. That way if the market goes bad I can eat lots of steak and not take a huge loss. I live in southwest Missouri, any help I can get would be greatly appreciated, if I can cut commissions out I would make a much better profit.
 
everyone i know just takes them to the salebarn and gripes about the charges. i know a few guys in arkansas that sell 30 or more in a load to guys in kansas, nebraska, and the dakotas, they however will not give me any names and numbers for i would then be cutting in on their action.
 
try to see about building a coop in order to send a big group out. Work with the gripers and see what they think.
 
You might start by joining your local cattleman's association and getting to know people, advertise in their magazine,etc. Another thing you could do is hire Macon to design you a web site and show your stuff on CattleToday.....
 
Please don't take this the wrong way but most people wereI am from do not want to buy bottle fed calves. When buying private treaty replacement heifer you usually go for higher quality cattle. Bottle fed calves usually dont look as good as calves that are raised by their mammas. We have a cow that we bottle fed and she looks horrible but she raises a good calf every year. We only kept her because we knew her pedegee and had both parents on the ranch and the kids really liked her because it was the first calf they raised on the bottle. If had seen her at a sale there is NO way I would have even considered her.
 
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Here's one of my bottle calves. I don't think I'd have a problem selling her to someone for a replacement.. assuming the floppy ears don't put someone off. :lol:
 
most of my calves look really good. not that mine are any better than anyone elses though. i recently sold 1 bull @295#'s he brought $1.67/pd, i also sold a heifer at the same time, she brought $1.47 at 255#'s. i thought these were really good prices for bottle calves. also not all are bottle calves, some are light weight weiners, example, an old cow borught to the barn paired up with a 200# calf. many times these will be split, the cow brings $.55 and goes to slaughter, i can pick the calf up for 250 to 275 $'s, put him on good grain and hay pack 200 more pounds on him and make a few bucks. when i take 5 of these calves with 5 bottle calves of the same size, color, and build i come away a winner, and someone takes 10 good calves to winter wheat and we are all happy.
 
I'm not thinking that any of mine would be replacement heifers or anything like that, although i have about 7 that have calved out that i have raised on a bottle. i'm thinking more along the lines of colorado wheat or kansas wheat.
 
txshowmom":lkcmh1h5 said:
Please don't take this the wrong way but most people wereI am from do not want to buy bottle fed calves. When buying private treaty replacement heifer you usually go for higher quality cattle. Bottle fed calves usually dont look as good as calves that are raised by their mammas. We have a cow that we bottle fed and she looks horrible but she raises a good calf every year. We only kept her because we knew her pedegee and had both parents on the ranch and the kids really liked her because it was the first calf they raised on the bottle. If had seen her at a sale there is NO way I would have even considered her.


Depends entirely on how they're fed.
Properly fed calves can't be distinguished from calves raised by mama.

The last bunch I took to the salebarn were sale toppers -- when the auctioneer announced that they were bottlecalves, bought right there at the same salebarn as newborns, nobody believed him. He had to ask me to come up and explain how the calves were raised that resulted in them looking so good (high protein ration, limited access to hay)

Ann B
 
I gove mine free choice 14% creep up until about 300-350lbs. Then i ration it to them mixed with some hay for filler. I also mix in some 50/50 or 12% sweet feed as a treat
 
3-B Farms":37yh5e4d said:
everyone i know just takes them to the salebarn and gripes about the charges.


Are you aware of what the exact charges are, or are you just aware that most guys gripe about them? I just sold 3 calves last weekend, they charged me about $40 on an $1800 sale. Seems reasonable to me. I guess you could save some money by selling them yourself, but you'd have to run newspaper ads (which ain't cheap nowadays!) or wait until someone comes along and buys them. I kinda like the guaranteed sale and knowing that I'll be getting market price, and being able to sell them when I want to sell them!

Not busting your chops, just didnt know if you knew the exact charges or were like me and just heard the charges were outrageous.
 
eric":3gk381ih said:
3-B Farms":3gk381ih said:
everyone i know just takes them to the salebarn and gripes about the charges.


Are you aware of what the exact charges are, or are you just aware that most guys gripe about them? I just sold 3 calves last weekend, they charged me about $40 on an $1800 sale. Seems reasonable to me. I guess you could save some money by selling them yourself, but you'd have to run newspaper ads (which ain't cheap nowadays!) or wait until someone comes along and buys them. I kinda like the guaranteed sale and knowing that I'll be getting market price, and being able to sell them when I want to sell them!

Not busting your chops, just didnt know if you knew the exact charges or were like me and just heard the charges were outrageous.

Same here, I was expecting high charges and was pleasantly surprised.
I don't remember all of them off the top of my head, but the one I do remember was 2 calves that sold for $1130, the charges were only about $20.

Ann B
 
3 head $1926.30 $60.05 charges. $15.50 for a couple of hours of yardage early chaps my butt.

dun
 
My situation is I have a job durying the week so to sell at a barn where I'll get a fair price I have to drop them off on Saturday, the sale isn't until Monday. So I either have to take time off of work or pay the two extra days for feed, and stuff. The prices aren't crazy high or anything like that, to sell 2 head calves, 255lbs, and 295 lbs it cost me $29.94. The point is if I sell 2 calves a month to help me with feed costs and such that is roughly $360.00 a year. I would rather hold on to the calves, tough out the feed costs and and use that $360.00 to help pay for feed next time. I'm just trying to save myself as much as i can. the best way to make money is to not give it away if you catch my drift
 
Yes, that is kinda high! I also sold an open cow last weekend, I brought her up on a Thursday, they charged me $2 a day for yardage.

Question about insurance....they charge .48 cents a hd for it / on the bottom of the pink slip I recieved when I drop them off it says, "We make no guarantee against sickness or death."So what does the insurance cover? It wasn't an option to buy, they automatically deducted it from the sale.
 
I figured this out last year. The average over the last five year for the commission, yardage, vet charge (when the vet never looks at them), etc came to 4%. Some years I think the sale barn makes more for selling the calves than I make raising them. I have also looked for ways of keeping more of the money in my pocket.
Dave
 
I'm not sure about the insurance, i bought a calf once and went to load it and it wouldn't get up, i asked the man loading her if insurance would pay me my money back if she died before i loaded her. he just giggled and said "if she was on the selling side of the barn yes, but since she is on the sold side of the barn no". i gave the calf a shot of b-complex and she got up and loaded herself. she also died before she left quarantine( 10 days at home).
 

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